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What can ‘economics’ offer community development…or, what can community development offer ‘economics’?

Submitted by ingrid_burkett on Mon, 09/02/2009 - 21:54
In many places around the world the financial crisis has meant that the economy is at the forefront of media and public debate.  As we go about our daily lives, we hear news about the global economic crisis, how various programs and projects are thought to be ‘stimulating’ “the economy”, or how the government is going to have to ‘tighten’ certain out-of-control segments of “the economy”.  Despite it’s prevalence in the media, however,  it is difficult to relate the concept of ‘the economy’ to our everyday experiences – especially when information about ‘the economy’ is delivered by experts who seem to speak numbers, formulas and statistics.  In reality, however, we all know a great deal about economics – we just don’t know that we know, because “the economy”, we are told, is something which can only be understood after years of studying lengthy equations and strange-looking graphs.  But, as author Mike Greenberg suggests, “While "the economy" of the economists inhabits an abstract number space, the economy of the real world happens in physical space, in the places where you and I and our neighbours interact”.We all belong to a ‘local’ economy, in addition to being part of a national economy and a global economy.  We are currently hearing a great deal about ‘the global economy’ and our various national economies (and we all read with a growing sense of disquiet and a mounting need for action about the impacts of dangerous mixes of politics and economics in places such as Zimbabwe, so aptly described in recent board blogs).Despite the fact that they rarely makes the news, however, our ‘local economies’  are crucial in our lives.  Our local economy is at the heart of our welfare, the welfare of our neighbours and our environment, and it determines, in a large part the quality of life which we all experience.  If the local economy is characterized by a lack of relationships (low social capital), a paucity of locally owned and operated enterprises, services and civil society organizations, a culture of dependency and fear, and a lack of investment and resources, then this detrimentally affects our quality of life and our life opportunities.  If, on the other hand, we create local economies which are rich in relationship, where local enterprises, businesses, services and organizations thrive, where there is a creative, innovative and inclusive culture, and opportunties for local investment, then our quality of life and our life opportunities are also going to be positively affected.   In order to make a difference on the ground we need an analysis that is informed by real life, real stories, real people (not statistics or probabilities of what could happen as the economic situations worsens).  We also need practical methodologies that help us with questions such as ‘how do we ensure that the our local economic systems are open to participation from a broad diversity of local people’?  The challenge of creating strong, resilient and innovative local economies is not one that will be taken on by many traditional economists.  But it could be taken on by community development workers who are willing to engage with some of the core economic questions of our time: How can we truly and sustainably address questions of poverty (in all its many guises)? How can we, in local communities, engage with and build alternatives to an economic system which is resulting in ecological destruction, the fraying of our social fabric, the negation of relationships, the ill-ness of people and ecological systems? How can we move from protest against elements of this economic system towards courageous, innovative and inspiring examples of how things could be more sustainable, more just and more inclusive.    I find myself being surprised by how many community development workers distance themselves from engaging with the field of economics.  How can we not have an economic analysis when at the heart of community development is a commitment to social justice, abolishing poverty and building sustainable futures?  Orthodox economics may be just about numbers, statistics and formulas – and this certainly could be called ‘the dismal science’.  But are we ready to do more than distance ourselves from this dismal science, throw stones at it, lament its failings and complain about it’s impacts?  Are we ready to build examples of how things could be different, to share innovations, to engage in courageous dialogues and to become active participants in designing ways in which local, national and global economies could be just, sustainable and about the well-being of all earth’s inhabitants?    The roots of the word “economy” are interesting in themselves.  “Economy” comes from the greek oikos, the house, and ‘nomos’ or management…so essentially it means management of the household.  Of course the word “ecology” comes from the same root, finishing with logos, or knowledge, so meaning “knowing the home”.  The idea that economics is about considering our world and our communities as a ‘home’ provides us with a wonderful framework for understanding the principles and practices of community economic development: In a home we are concerned not just with the well-being of one or two people, but the well-being of all members of the household; We know, in a home, that if we pollute one room, then that will affect all other rooms of the home; We wouldn’t sit at the dining room table and prepare a feast for only one or two members of the household while the others starve.   Globally we, in the community development field, have championed the notion of ‘people-centred’ development.  We are all agreed that development cannot take place without the full and active participation of the people who are at the centre of any development process.  Now, as we stare down the long tunnel of global economic turbulence and ecological collapse, it is time for us community development workers  to also take a long hard look at how we can promote ‘Community Centred Economies’.  Community Centred Economies are local, human-scale economies and economic processes through which communities can be sustainable into the future, and thereby sustain the equitable well-being of their constituents.  Just as we have participated in developing our understanding and our practice frameworks in the promotion of ‘People Centred Development’, we need to share the principles, processes, methodologies and stories of what it means to develop “Community Centred Economies”.   Over the next few months, and through the IACD conference in June, we hope to explore what it means to promote ‘’Community Centred Economies’’ through this blog, through sharing ideas, through sharing stories.  We invite you to be part of this journey by sharing your thoughts, posting your stories and engaging in the conversation!     See the conference website:  www.CDconference.com.au and find us on Face Book: Building Community Centred Economies for more information and engagement!

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